Follow the crazy adventures of an Alabama cyclist taking on the Race Across America (again) in 2017.

Chased by the satellites

Yesterday I put my race wheels on my bike to get ready for the River Gorge races this weekend. I have a hard time getting a wheel speed magnet to stay on my front race wheel, so most of the time I run my race wheel without a speed sensor. The Garmin is usually pretty accurate in calculating speed from satellite measurements. But if you pick the right route with really fast, sharp turns you can play a game where you are trying to outrun the satellite signal. You can get some crazy max speeds as the signal catches up to you. Once I managed to hit 80mph on a 55mph descent. On today’s ride that same descent registered as 64.6mph, when the actual speed was probably closer to 53mph. Here are some annotated screenshots from today’s ride.

Fast downhill turns in Mountain Brook. The arrows all point at downhill turns.

One of the fastest deceleration spots in town. You are still carrying about 50mph on the turn which pitches up above 20% taking you down to 5mph in very short order (maybe just 2 to 3 seconds).

The satellite signal on the S Cove Dr corner is usually surprisingly accurate, I think it’s because I brake so hard before the corner that it gives the satellite just enough chance to catch up!

S Cove neighborhood, turned sideways

It’s always fun to hit 7000 ft of climbing before the distance ticks over to 40 miles.

Difference between 10 mile and 1.5 mile horizontal axis – the rollers get hidden on the zoomed out 10 mile scale.